A gymnastics apparatus is described in Austrian Pat. No. 377 182 (compare also British Pat. No. 2 114 456). This apparatus primarily serves to stretch and strengthen the back muscles. An adjusting of the connecting rod relative to the pipe which surrounds the connecting rod is, however, slightly complicated in this apparatus, because the clamping device, which holds the connecting rod relative to the pipe in the adjusted position, must, during the adjusting operation, be moved up and down together with the handle bar and then be operated.
The purpose of the invention is to overcome this disadvantage and to provide a gymnastics apparatus of the abovedisclosed type, in which the distance between handle bar and support rod can be adjusted substantially easier.
This purpose is inventively attained by connecting, if desired hingedly, the connecting rod to a support rod and the pipe to the handle bar. Through this, the number of operating steps needed for the adjustment are reduced.
The gymnastics apparatus is substantially protected against environmental influences by encasing the pipe in plastic.
The provision of a pivotally supported lever connected to a locking bolt enables a substantially simpler adjustment of the pipe and connecting rod than is possible in the known design, in which a hexagon cap screw or a turning handle must be tightened at the end of the adjusting operation.
In the inventive construction, it is preferable for the spring to be arranged between the end of the connecting rod and a spring abutment member constructed as a guide member for the locking bolt. Thus the guide member has to fulfill two functions, namely to guide the bolt for locking and to support the spring.
Through the provision of an inventive locking lever construction, the forces in direction of the encasing pipe axis are absorbed by a bearing, which bearing can be of a large construction, and a jamming of the lever within the housing cannot occur.
Several practical designs of a guideway for a pin on the locking bolt can be provided. A one piece two-arm lever is particularly preferable and can therefore be easily manufactured. Furthermore, the lever can be provided with an indicating device indicating whether or not the device is locked or unlocked.